Federal Judiciary officials have asked Congress for $8.12 billion to fund judicial branch operations for fiscal year 2022. The request includes funding to keep pace with inflationary and other budget adjustments, and to pay for program increases, including projected workload changes, courthouse security, cybersecurity, and new magistrate judges, according to a press release. The request in discretionary appropriations represents an overall $403 million increase, or 5.2 percent, above the FY 2021 enacted level. Judge John W. Lungstrum, chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Budget, and Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, made the request yesterday while testifying before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. In her testimony, Mauskopf outlined branch-wide priorities that the Administrative Office is supporting, including employee diversity and inclusion, workplace conduct protections, and growing judicial security needs for federal judges and U.S. court facilities. Mauskopf asked for $100.3 million for the AO, a 4.9 percent increase. The pandemic resulted in double-digit declines in 2020 in criminal filings (-11 percent) and bankruptcy filings (-12 percent). “The Judiciary projects that criminal and bankruptcy workload will rebound in 2021, with each increasing nearly 4 percent,” Lungstrum said. Court-appointed defense representations in the Judiciary’s defender services program are also expected to increase.
